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A very important point in Pawns. In FIDE chess the Pawn skeleton is a key strategic element. Pawns on adjacent files protect each other. The idea 'Pawns are the soul of chess' certainly applies more for FIDE chess than for Xiang Qi. Piece strategy in the middle game and in the endgame are much related to Pawn structure. The Pawn structure defines your playing space in the middle game. If you want to penetrate through the opponent's Pawn fortification (with brute force), you have to sacrifice at least a piece with thrice the value of the Pawn (Knight or Bishop). In Xiang Qi, a Pawn isn't worth much less than an Elephant (at least when the Pawn moved twice, getting it across the river). In the endgame, Pawn promotion is a much bigger issue in FIDE chess. With little material the mobile FIDE King isn't easily checkmated. The idea of the endgame is to use the King as an attacker and the goal is to get a Pawn across the board. In Xiang Qi, the goal of the endgame is still to attack the King, not to eliminate Pawns with the King.
Perhaps it could be said that xiang qi plays 'smaller' in the endgame and fide, 'bigger.' In xiang qi the battles begin to swirl around the respective palaces, whereas in fide the king is roaming at large, oftentimes being a key piece in a player's attack. Now, there is the cross-board, 'attack' of the king in xiang qi, but to me that is a small exception to this overall idea. Yesterday I was checkmated by a horse and a pawn in xiang qi. This could have been avoided but it is also a common type of lapse on the part of the defender in that game, at least in my experience. With the mobile king in fide, you oftentimes need a bit more muscle than that to accomplish checkmate. And the promoting pawns of fide are a big difference, yes. It is so fascinating, how these two games are designed; the distinctive features which balance each one out.
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